Cleaner head

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a cleaner head including: front housing and a rear housing disposed side by side on front and rear sides thereof respectively, the rear housing having an air outlet formed thereon; a front brush rotatably disposed on the front housing in such a manner as to be exposed from the underside of the front housing; a rear brush rotatably disposed the rear housing in such a manner as to be exposed from the underside of the rear housing; driving motors built in the rear housing to rotate the front brush and the rear brush through a power transmission mechanism; and a lifting unit disposed on one side of the rear housing to move up and down the front housing with respect to the rear housing in a hinged manner, whereby if necessary, the front brush is lifted or stretched out to come into contact with the floor, thereby optimally maintaining cleaning effects according to places, minimizing a resistance occurring while moving, and reducing an area occupying the floor while being kept in a given place.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a cleaner head, and more particularly,to a cleaner head capable of lifting a front brush.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, a vacuum cleaner includes a body having a fan motor disposedat the inside thereof to generate a suction force, an extension tube atone end thereof connected to a suction port of the body, and a suctionhead disposed on the free end of the extension tube to suck foreignmatters like dust through the suction force of the fan motor.

Recently, a vacuum cleaner, which is configured to have a brushrotatably protruding from the underside of the suction head and adriving motor for driving the brush, has been popularly introduced.

Further, a cleaner head, which is provided with two brushes havingdifferent characteristics disposed side by side in front and reardirections to provide a double brush structure, has been proposed,thereby enhancing agitation effects of foreign matters.

In case of the conventional cleaner head, however, the two brushes areconfigured to always come into contact with the floor, thereby failingto obtain optimal foreign matter sucking effects according tocharacteristics of the surface of the floor.

For example, if a surface of a carpet is cleaned with a cleaner headhaving a double brush structure consisting of a flannel brush and astraight hair brush, the flannel brush does not provide cleaning effectssubstantially and further pressurizes the surface of the carpet, therebyresulting in the reduction of the cleaning effects.

According to the conventional cleaner head, furthermore, the two brushesare kept coming into contact with the floor, thereby undesirablyincreasing an area occupying the floor.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of theabove-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an objectof the present invention to provide a cleaner head that is configured tolift a front brush if necessary, thereby optimally maintaining cleaningeffects and reducing an area occupying the floor.

Technical Solution

To accomplish the above-mentioned object, according to the presentinvention, there is provided a cleaner head including: a front housingand a rear housing disposed side by side on front and rear sides thereofrespectively, the rear housing having an air outlet formed thereon; afront brush rotatably disposed on the front housing in such a manner asto be exposed from the underside of the front housing; a rear brushrotatably disposed the rear housing in such a manner as to be exposedfrom the underside of the rear housing; driving motors built in the rearhousing to rotate the front brush and the rear brush through a powertransmission mechanism; and a lifting unit disposed on one side of therear housing to move up and down the front housing with respect to therear housing in a hinged manner.

According to the present invention, desirably, the lifting unitincludes: a housing frame disposed on one side of the rear housing; adriving and rotating piece rotatably coupled to the housing frame,coupled to one side of the front housing, and having first gear teethformed on at least a portion of a periphery thereof; an intermediategear rotatably coupled to the housing frame and having second gear teethengaging with the first gear teeth; a locking and supporting pieceextended from the intermediate gear in a direction of a rotating shaftof the intermediate gear; a rotating and locking piece rotatably coupledto the housing frame and intermittently engageable with the locking andsupporting piece; and a spring connected at one end thereof to thedriving and rotating piece and at the other end thereof to the housingframe.

According to the present invention, desirably, the locking andsupporting piece has a locking threshold part formed thereon in acircumferential direction thereof, and the rotating and locking piecehas a hook formed on one end thereof in such a manner as to be lockableon the locking threshold part.

According to the present invention, desirably, the lifting unit furtherincludes an operating pedal hinge-movable up and down with respect tothe housing frame in such a manner as to come into contact with therotating and locking piece to allow the rotating and locking piece to bereciprocatingly hinge-movable to the housing frame.

According to the present invention, desirably, one end of the spring isconnected to the driving and rotating piece by means of a loadconnecting piece.

According to the present invention, desirably, the driving and rotatingpiece and the load connecting piece are coupled to each other in ahinge-movable manner.

According to the present invention, desirably, the housing frame has ahinge part extended in a direction toward the longitudinal center of thecleaner head in such a manner as to be hinge-coupled to the operatingpedal.

According to the present invention, desirably, the hinge part has hingegrooves open upward on top thereof, and the operating pedal has a hingepin disposed on the front top side thereof in such a manner as to behinge-coupled to the hinge grooves.

According to the present invention, desirably, the rotating and lockingpiece has a locking groove formed on one end thereof in such a manner asto be open on the underside thereof, and the operating pedal has alocking protrusion extended laterally from the front lower end thereofin such a manner as to be inserted into the locking groove.

According to the present invention, desirably, a compression spring isconnected between a point spaced downward from the hinge grooves of thehousing frame and a point spaced downward from the hinge pin of theoperating pedal.

According to the present invention, desirably, a damping gear isrotatably coupled to the housing frame in such a manner that the dampinggear is engaged with the intermediate gear.

According to the present invention, desirably, the driving and rotatingpiece includes a first coupling portion protruding from the outersurface thereof in such a manner as to have the same center as therotary shaft of the rear brush and a second coupling portion formedspaced apart from the first coupling portion, and the front housingincludes a third coupling portion and a fourth coupling portion formedon one side end thereof in such a manner as to be coupledcorrespondingly to the first coupling portion and the second couplingportion.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present invention, the cleaner head is configured tolift the front brush or to stretch the front brush to come into contactwith the floor as needed, thereby optimally maintaining cleaning effectsaccording to places, minimizing a resistance occurring while moving, andreducing an area occupying the floor while being kept in a given place.

In addition, the cleaner head according to the present invention isconfigured to press the operating pedal by means of a user's hand orfoot to lift the front brush, thereby providing many conveniences of usethereof.

Further, the cleaner head according to the present invention isconfigured to have the damping gear disposed freely rotatable on thehousing frame in such a manner as to engage with the intermediate gear,thereby avoiding the breakage of the components due to abrupt lifting ofthe front housing by the spring.

Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cleaner head according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the cleaner headaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a front side of a lifting unit ofthe cleaner head in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view showing the front sideof the lifting unit of the cleaner head according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a rear side of a portion of thelifting unit of the cleaner head according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the lifting unit of the cleaner headaccording to the present invention, wherein a front brush is stretchedout.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the lifting unit of the cleaner headaccording to the present invention, wherein the front brush is lifted.

MODE FOR INVENTION

Hereinafter, an explanation on a cleaner head according to the presentinvention will be in detail given with reference to the attacheddrawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cleaner head 1000 according to the presentinvention includes: a front housing 100 and a rear housing 200 disposedside by side on front and rear sides thereof respectively, the rearhousing 200 having an air outlet 210 formed thereon; a front brush 700rotatably disposed on the front housing 100 in such a manner as to beexposed from the underside of the front housing 100; a rear brush 800rotatably disposed the rear housing 200 in such a manner as to beexposed from the underside of the rear housing 200; driving motors 500built in the rear housing 200 to rotate the front brush 700 and the rearbrush 800 through a power transmission mechanism 600; and a lifting unit300 disposed on one side of the rear housing 200 to move up and down thefront housing 100 with respect to the rear housing 200 in a hingedmanner.

In detail, the front housing 100 can move up and down with respect tothe rear housing 200 by means of the lifting unit 300. As needed, thefront brush 700 disposed on the front housing 100 is stretched out tocome into contact with the floor or is lifted to allow only the rearbrush 800 disposed on the rear housing 200 to come into contact with thefloor.

For example, if the front brush 700 is a roll type brush made of softflannel and the rear brush 800 is made of a tough straight hair orrubber strip or both straight hair and rubber strip, the front brush 700is lifted because the front brush 700 does not provide cleaning effectssubstantially at the time when a carpet having much hair raised high iscleaned, so that while the cleaner head 1000 is moving for cleaning, aresistance caused therefrom can be reduced.

In more detail, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the lifting unit 300 includes:a housing frame 310 disposed on one side of the rear housing 200; adriving and rotating piece 320 rotatably coupled to the housing frame310, coupled to one side of the front housing 100, and having first gearteeth 321 formed on at least a portion of a periphery thereof; anintermediate gear 330 rotatably coupled to the housing frame 310 andhaving second gear teeth 331 engaging with the first gear teeth 321; alocking and supporting piece 340 extended from the intermediate gear 330in a direction of a rotating shaft of the intermediate gear 330; arotating and locking piece 350 rotatably coupled to the housing frame310 and intermittently engageable with the locking and supporting piece340; and a spring 370 connected at one end thereof to the driving androtating piece 320 and at the other end thereof to the housing frame310.

In a state wherein the front housing 100 is stretched out and the frontbrush 700 comes into contact with the floor, as shown in FIG. 6, thespring 370 is kept pulled out, so that it tends to be returned to itsoriginal position.

However, the rotating and locking piece 350 is hooked onto the lockingand supporting piece 340, and accordingly, the spring 370 is notreturned to its original position.

In the state wherein the front housing 100 is stretched out, the spring370 is in a tight state.

Especially, the locking and supporting piece 340 has a locking thresholdpart 341 formed thereon in a circumferential direction thereof, and therotating and locking piece 350 has a hook 351 formed on one end thereofin such a manner as to be lockable on the locking threshold part 341,thereby desirably providing a reliable locking structure.

The locking and supporting piece 340 desirably has an arc-shapedperipheral surface extended from the locking threshold part 341.

The lifting unit 300 further includes an operating pedal 360hinge-movable up and down with respect to the housing frame 310 in sucha manner as to come into contact with the rotating and locking piece 350to allow the rotating and locking piece 350 to be reciprocatinglyhinge-movable to the housing frame 310.

If the operating pedal 360 is pressed down, as shown in FIG. 7, theoperating pedal 360 rotates with respect to the housing frame 310 tocome into contact with the rotating and locking piece 350, so that therotating and locking piece 350 rotates with respect to the housing frame310 to cause the hook 351 to escape from the locking threshold part 341of the locking and supporting piece 340.

Accordingly, the driving and rotating piece 320 rotates in a clockwisedirection by means of the restoring force of the spring 370, so that thefront housing 100 coupled to the driving and rotating piece 320 rotatesin the clockwise direction with respect to the coaxial shaft to the rearbrush 800 and is thus lifted.

Instead of the operating pedal 360, other components such as a handle,lever, or pressing switch may be adopted to hinge-rotate the rotatingand locking piece 350, and they have similar functions to each other,from which it will be understood that they are equivalent components inview of the their analysis of right.

Desirably, one end of the spring 370 is connected to the driving androtating piece 320 by means of a load connecting piece 380.

The load connecting piece 380 protrudes from the peripheral surface ofthe driving and rotating piece 320 to allow the spring 370 to produce amaximum moment from the driving and rotating piece 320, and desirably,the spring 370 is connected to the protruding portion of the loadconnecting piece 380.

Particularly, the driving and rotating piece 320 and the load connectingpiece 380 are coupled to each other in a hinge-movable manner, therebyin advance preventing a failure caused due to the change of the spring370 in posture from occurring during the rotation of the driving androtating piece 320.

Further, the housing frame 310 has a hinge part 390 extended in adirection toward the longitudinal center of the cleaner head 1000 insuch a manner as to be hinge-coupled to the operating pedal 360.

Accordingly, the hinge part 390 is prevented from protruding from theside of the cleaner head 1000 to provide an excellent outer appearanceof the cleaner head 1000 and to suppress an area of the cleaner head 100occupying the floor from being increased.

In this case, the hinge part 390 has hinge grooves 391 open upward ontop thereof, and the operating pedal 360 has a hinge pin 361 disposed onthe front top side thereof in such a manner as to be hinge-coupled tothe hinge grooves 391, so that the operating pedal 360 is smoothlyhinge-movable up and down.

So as to allow the rotating and locking piece 350 to easily rotate whilethe operating pedal 360 is hinge-moving, further, the rotating andlocking piece 350 has a locking groove 352 formed on one end thereof insuch a manner as to be open on the underside thereof, and the operatingpedal 360 has a locking protrusion 362 extended laterally from the frontlower end thereof in such a manner as to be inserted into the lockinggroove 352.

So as to allow the operating pedal 360 to be returned to its originalposition after pressed down, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a compressionspring 318 is connected between a point p1 spaced downward from thehinge grooves 391 of the housing frame 310 and a point p2 spaceddownward from the hinge pin 361 of the operating pedal 360.

Since the hook 351 escapes upward from the locking threshold part 341 ofthe locking and supporting piece 340, in this case, the hook 351 ismaintained in a state of coming into contact with the periphery of thelocking and supporting piece 340, while an upward restoring force isbeing applied to the operating pedal 360.

On the other hand, a damping gear 338 is rotatably coupled to thehousing frame 310 in such a manner that the damping gear 338 is engagedwith the intermediate gear 330.

The damping gear 338 is a mechanical component giving an appropriateresistance to rotation and is adapted to engage with the intermediategear 330, thereby avoiding the breakage of the components due to abruptlifting of the front housing 100 by the spring 370.

Further, the driving and rotating piece 320 includes a first couplingportion 325 protruding from the outer surface thereof in such a manneras to have the same center as the rotary shaft of the rear brush 800 anda second coupling portion 326 formed spaced apart from the firstcoupling portion 325, and the front housing 100 includes a thirdcoupling portion 105 and a fourth coupling portion 106 formed on oneside end thereof in such a manner as to be coupled correspondingly tothe first coupling portion 325 and the second coupling portion 326, sothat the front housing 100 can surely rotate engagingly with therotation of the driving and rotating piece 320.

Coupling between the first coupling portion 325 and the third couplingportion 105 and between the second coupling portion 326 and the fourthcoupling portion 106 is carried out by means of fastening means C suchas screws.

The power transmission mechanism 600 for connecting the driving motors500 to the front brush 700 and the rear brush 800 includes pulleys and atiming belt, and otherwise, it may include a gear train in which gearscontinuously engage with each other.

Hereinafter, an explanation on the lifting operation of the double brushin the cleaner head according to the present invention will be in detailgiven with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

First, in a state wherein the front housing 100 is stretched out and thefront brush 700 comes into contact with the floor, as shown in FIG. 6,the front brush 700 and the rear brush 800 at the same time rotate bymeans of the driving motors 500 to remove foreign matters from thefloor.

The removed foreign matters are sucked through the air outlet 210 of therear housing 200 and then accommodated in a separate dust tank (notshown).

In this case, the spring 370, which is connected between the driving androtating piece 320 and the housing frame 310 of the lifting unit 300, iskept tightly pulled out, so that it tends to be returned to its originalposition.

However, the hook 351 of the rotating and locking piece 350 is hooked onthe locking threshold part 341 of the locking and supporting piece 340,so that the spring 370 is not returned to its original position.

That is, in the state wherein the front housing 100 is stretched out,the spring 370 is kept tightly pulled out.

If the operating pedal 360 is pressed down, on the other hand, thelocking protrusion 353 of the operating pedal 360 pushes the innersurface of the locking groove 352 of the rotating and locking piece 350,as shown in FIG. 7, so that the rotating and locking piece 350 ishinge-moved in the clockwise direction to allow the hook 351 to escapefrom the locking threshold part 341 of the locking and supporting piece340.

Accordingly, the driving and rotating piece 320 rotates in the clockwisedirection by means of the restoring force of the spring 370, and theintermediate gear 330 engaged with the driving and rotating piece 320rotates in a counterclockwise direction.

As a result, the front housing 100 coupled to the driving and rotatingpiece 320 also rotates in the clockwise direction with respect to thecoaxial shaft to the rear brush 800 and is thus lifted.

At this time, the damping gear 338 engaged with the intermediate gear330 rotates engagingly with the intermediate gear 330 to allow the fronthousing 100 to be slowly lifted, thereby preventing the front housing100 from being shockingly lifted.

If a pressing load applied to the operating pedal 360 is released,further, a returning force tending to be restored to an originalposition is applied to the operating pedal 360 by means of thecompression spring 318.

In the state where the locking state of the hook 351 on the lockingthreshold part 341 is released, accordingly, the hook 351 is justpressed against the outer surface of the locking and supporting piece340, but the hook 351 cannot stop the rotation of the locking andsupporting piece 340 and the intermediate gear 330.

So as to change the lifted state of the front housing 100 into thestretched state on the floor, on the other hand, the front housing 100is just rotated in the opposite direction to the lifted direction.

In more detail, if an user rotates the front housing 100 to thestretched state, the driving and rotating piece 320 coupled to the fronthousing 100 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, and the loadconnecting piece 380 connected to the driving and rotating piece 320rotates to allow the spring 370 to be pulled out with respect to thehousing frame 310.

As the driving and rotating piece 320 rotates, further, the intermediategear 330 and the locking and supporting piece 340 engaged with thedriving and rotating piece 320 rotate in the clockwise direction, sothat the locking threshold part 341 formed on the locking and supportingpiece 340 is locked on the hook 351 of the rotating and locking piece350.

Accordingly, the front housing 100 coupled to the driving and rotatingpiece 320 is thus stretched out on the floor and the front brush 700comes into contact with the floor.

While the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by theembodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciatedthat those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodimentswithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

1. A cleaner head comprising: a front housing and a rear housingdisposed side by side on front and rear sides thereof respectively, therear housing having an air outlet formed thereon; a front brushrotatably disposed on the front housing in such a manner as to beexposed from the underside of the front housing; a rear brush rotatablydisposed the rear housing in such a manner as to be exposed from theunderside of the rear housing; driving motors built in the rear housingto rotate the front brush and the rear brush through a powertransmission mechanism; and a lifting unit disposed on one side of therear housing to move up and down the front housing with respect to therear housing in a hinged manner.
 2. The cleaner head according to claim1, wherein the lifting unit comprises: a housing frame disposed on oneside of the rear housing; a driving and rotating piece rotatably coupledto the housing frame, coupled to one side of the front housing, andhaving first gear teeth formed on at least a portion of a peripherythereof; an intermediate gear rotatably coupled to the housing frame andhaving second gear teeth engaging with the first gear teeth; a lockingand supporting piece extended from the intermediate gear in a directionof a rotating shaft of the intermediate gear; a rotating and lockingpiece rotatably coupled to the housing frame and intermittentlyengageable with the locking and supporting piece; and a spring connectedat one end thereof to the driving and rotating piece and at the otherend thereof to the housing frame.
 3. The cleaner head according to claim1, wherein the locking and supporting piece has a locking threshold partformed thereon in a circumferential direction thereof, and the rotatingand locking piece has a hook formed on one end thereof in such a manneras to be lockable on the locking threshold part.
 4. The cleaner headaccording to claim 2, wherein the lifting unit further comprises anoperating pedal hinge-movable up and down with respect to the housingframe in such a manner as to come into contact with the rotating andlocking piece to allow the rotating and locking piece to bereciprocatingly hinge-movable to the housing frame.
 5. The cleaner headaccording to claim 2, wherein one end of the spring is connected to thedriving and rotating piece by means of a load connecting piece.
 6. Thecleaner head according to claim 5, wherein the driving and rotatingpiece and the load connecting piece are coupled to each other in ahinge-movable manner.
 7. The cleaner head according to claim 4, whereinthe housing frame has a hinge part extended in a direction toward thelongitudinal center of the cleaner head in such a manner as to behinge-coupled to the operating pedal.
 8. The cleaner head according toclaim 7, wherein the hinge part has hinge grooves open upward on topthereof, and the operating pedal has a hinge pin disposed on the fronttop side thereof in such a manner as to be hinge-coupled to the hingegrooves.
 9. The cleaner head according to claim 8, wherein the rotatingand locking piece has a locking groove formed on one end thereof in sucha manner as to be open on the underside thereof, and the operating pedalhas a locking protrusion extended laterally from the front lower endthereof in such a manner as to be inserted into the locking groove. 10.The cleaner head according to claim 8, wherein a compression spring isconnected between a point spaced downward from the hinge grooves of thehousing frame and a point spaced downward from the hinge pin of theoperating pedal.
 11. The cleaner head according to claim 2, wherein adamping gear is rotatably coupled to the housing frame in such a mannerthat the damping gear is engaged with the intermediate gear.
 12. Thecleaner head according to claim 2, wherein the driving and rotatingpiece comprises a first coupling portion protruding from the outersurface thereof in such a manner as to have the same center as therotary shaft of the rear brush and a second coupling portion formedspaced apart from the first coupling portion, and the front housingcomprises a third coupling portion and a fourth coupling portion formedon one side end thereof in such a manner as to be coupledcorrespondingly to the first coupling portion and the second couplingportion.